Waiting
by budgiebears
Summary: Dying isn't like you were never born. You don't fade away. You live again and hope to God no one you love joins you. James/Lily fic. Oneshot. Marauder's Era.


A/N: Hey guys! Sorry the description is so shitty - I wrote this ages ago and I'm too tiredt o put much effort in to it. Enjoyyyyyy :)

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><p>"Avada Kedavra!"<p>

James slumped to the ground, dead. His last thoughts were of Lily and his son, so young, so undamaged. "Stay with him." He prayed. "Please, God, stay with him."  
>He realised he was scrunching up his eyes. He peeked out at himself lying on the ground, glasses askew.<p>

"What-" He saw Voldemort proceeding upstairs. "NO!" He screamed. "NO!" He made to run after him, but a hand - warm and gentle - on his shoulder held him back. The touch was light but he couldn't seem to get away from whatever was holding him back.

"I know, sweetheart. Don't worry - they'll be along soon. You are not alone."  
>He turned to face a middle-aged woman with a gentle face. Tears glazed in both his hazel eyes and hers.<p>

"Mum?" He asked, his voice breaking.

"Yes, sweetheart." She stroked his face.

"What are you doing here? What's going on?" He was on the verge of tears.  
>She looked so empathising, so pitying. "I'm so sorry, dear." She kissed his forehead. A tear splashed onto his skin. Her lips spread a warmth through him he hadn't felt in a long time.<p>

"You're going to have to come with me, sweetheart. "

His voice wobbled. "No." His bottom lip was trembling as he told her he can't leave his wife and child.

"You already have."

"No." He told her shaking his was but tears were running down his face. "No. I promised I'd never leave her."

"You know there is nothing you can do for them, sweetheart." She took his hand to lead him away. This time he let her, staring helplessly into the face of his corpse.

"Where are we going?" He asked numbly.

"Somewhere good. Somewhere safe. Don't you worry, James."

It was the first time he'd heard his name escape her lips since her death. They walked out the front door and there was a black cab waiting for them.

"Admission?" The driver inquired as they reach the car.  
>Angelica nodded and her and James sit into the back of the cab. "Sorry about, well - you know - dying," said the cabbie as he checked the road for cars and pulls out of where he was parked. A cigar was wobbling in his mouth.<p>

"Yeah."  
>Angelica rubbed his shoulder.<p>

"I thought you said 'they'd be along'?" Questioned James, remembering.

"Oh, they will be. Everyone's time will come."

He brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed his eyes with the same hand. "So you mean I'll have lived a life-time when they end up here."  
>She nodded.<p>

His heart shattered.

"I know sweetheart. Trust me when I say I know how it feels to leave your family behind."  
>James had lost track of where the cab was headed, but they hadn't been driving too long so he didn't know why he didn't recognise the building they pulled up to. A tall black building loomed over them.<p>

"Here we are then," Angelica told her son.

"In'o the fron' door, to the lef' 'nd up the stairs to the top floor." Said the cabbie in a heavy accent.

"Cheers." Replied James distantly.

Angelica walked towards two grand doors which must have been the entrance. James followed suit and in no time they have reached the top floor.

"They let you just wander in?" Inquired James, un-enthusiastically.

"You can only see this building if you have died - and if you have died - this is where you belong." She explained. There were hundreds of people walking helplessly towards gates at the far end of the space. So many of them were alone. No one to welcome them. No one to stay with them. Everybody was slightly shimmering and their movements seem very fluid, however slow. They made their way towards the gate where men and women were stationed to admit them to whatever was beyond the gates.

"Name." Demanded the woman who was admitting them.  
>"James Potter."<br>"Middle name."  
>"Alexander."<br>"Age."  
>"Twenty-one."<br>"Tut tut." She scribbled out a name in a book that was perched on her arm. She addressed Angelica. "Will he be waiting?"  
>"We'll see." She replied solemnly. They stepped inside the gates. Instantly James felt less miserable. This hall was bright and welcoming. The people wandering around were cheery and upbeat. Like Lily. A pang of longing twisted his heart. Surely she was still alive. She would have been up here by now otherwise. There was set of grand double doors to the right side of the hall with a sign above them reading "Waiting Room." James noticed he and his mother were making their way over to them.<p>

"Mum?" He began, intending to ask her what the waiting room was, but she cut him off. "  
>"You'll see."<p>

`They reached a podium where dark skinned man was standing, quill in hand. "Name please."  
>Angelica seemed to know the drill by now. James wondered how many people she had had to direct up here. "Sit over there, James, and don't listen."<p>

"What do you mean, don't listen?" He demanded. "I'm not a kid."  
>She gritted her teeth as if her son was causing a great inconvenience. "Lily Evans." She said to the man through her teeth.<br>James's eyes widened. "I-"

"Don't get your hopes up, James. If you had any sense you'd want her alive. You'd want her to be with Harry."  
>"That's exactly what I want!" Exclaimed James outrageously. "You think I want her up here? I want her there with my son, and I resent the fact that you've implied I want her here with me rather than keeping our son safe!"<p>

"You're in love with her, James. Can you blame me for thinking you'd want her with you?" She argued. "Anyway. Lily Evans." She continued, facing the man. Should we go through?" She asked him irratibly.

"Lily Potter," corrected James.  
>"I'm deeply sorry," said the man. "But, yes. You should make your way in."<p>

Angelica's face fell and her hand came to her forehead. She glanced at James apologetically and took his calloused hand in her soft one. "Come along."  
>They sat in two available seats beside a wall. The room was strange - strange in that it didn't seem to have a definite boundary. The "wall" they had sat beside kept shifting like mist or fog. Each wall had the same shimmery indefinite appearance, but bright light was breaking through the far wall and people seemed to be appearing through it.<p>

Before James could get his bearings, Angelica began talking. "You're probably wondering what this is."  
>"It's a waiting room." Noted James.<br>"Yes, it is. We're waiting for Lily."  
>"She won't arrive. If Voldemort had killed her she would have been here straight after me."<p>

Angelica inhaled. "That's another thing, James. This is the afterlife. Before you walk through admission - time doesn't pass. From the second you sit into the cab, time stops."  
>This seemed to be a little bit too much for James to process given the current circumstance.<br>"And-"  
>"I don't want to know anymore." He prayed - he prayed, to what he didn't know - but, he prayed and prayed and prayed that Lily would be okay.<br>Please keep her alive.  
>Please keep her alive.<br>Please keep her alive.  
>Don't let her die.<br>Please keep her alive.  
>Don't let her die.<br>Don't let her die.  
>Don't kill her.<p>

_Please._

"James?" A soft, familiar voice uttered. He peeled his eyes off the floor to gaze into the face if a beautiful red-haired woman. He stood unconsciously. She threw herself in his arms. His arms wrapped around her and his eyes closed mechanically.

"No." He whispered.

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><p>In the end everything will be okay, and if it is not okay, then simply, it is not the end.<p>

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><p>AN: idk I'm really sad


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